


A Tale of Two Betrayals

by valda



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Blood, Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-22 22:17:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6095743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valda/pseuds/valda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux's attempted coup doesn't quite go as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale of Two Betrayals

At first he isn’t sure—well, he isn’t sure of much of anything. He’s Hux. He knows that much. He’s…

His head hurts, and his eyes are closed, and there’s something else. He feels…sticky. He tries to open his eyes, but they’re sticky too. He drags a hand over them, fingers swiping clumsily over eyelids, and it doesn’t help at all.

“Hux,” growls a low, modulated voice.

Hux opens his mouth. “Ren,” he says—or at least, he intends to say, but what happens instead is an odd, wet sort of croaking sound that seems to rattle in his chest. “Oh,” he coughs, the word lost in another rasp.

Yes. He knows what’s happening now. He remembers what the stickiness is, what he’s just scrubbed across his face. He’s painted his eyes shut with his own blood.

He’s dying.

Well, isn’t that fantastic.

Hux forces his eyes open. It’s dark, though. Of course; he’s still in the chamber. Likely it’s only been a few seconds. And now Ren will finish him off. Or maybe he won’t; maybe he’ll watch, smirking, as blood loss does the job.

His father would have said it’s better to die on your feet. Well, Hux had been on his feet originally. Maybe that counts. Maybe it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to die after the killing blow, as long as that blow landed while you were on your feet.

His father also would have said he’d just thrown away his birthright. But Hux is thinking that enough for the both of them. No need for you to chime in now, Father. Go back to being dead.

I’ll be with you in a moment.

It occurs to Hux that Ren is not saying anything. He isn’t laughing, either. What—what _is_ he doing? Hux can’t see.

Really, this is the most annoying death Hux could have imagined.

He hears the rumbling before he feels the pain, before he realizes he’s what’s making the noise. He’s growling. His fingers tighten into a fist and he slams his hand down against the rocky floor—or at least, he smacks it down as hard as he can, which isn’t very hard at all.

And…the floor isn’t rocky. It’s smooth, and slightly warm. And vibrating?

Hux closes his eyes. He’s imagining things now. He knows where he is. He knows what he’s just done. He knows he’s dying in Snoke’s chamber under the laughing gaze of Kylo Ren. Just…just let him die, already.

There’s a soft hiss, and a sharp pain at his neck, and he’s not sure which one happened first. Then there is nothing.

* * *

It is something of a surprise when he awakens.

Hux raises a hand to his forehead dazedly before he remembers about the blood. But when he pulls his hand away, it’s clean. He touches his face; it’s clean too. He’s—

He’s in a medbay.

He tries to sit up, which he would have realized was a bad idea if his brain would just catch up with the rest of him. Pain flares at his side, blossoming out to pulse down his limbs, and he falls back into the pillow with a groan.

“You utter fool,” and it’s that voice again, deep, mechanically altered.

Hux rolls his head to the side to see Kylo Ren seated next to his cot, and his lips twist into a painful snarl. “Your knights weren’t supposed to be there,” Hux spits. “Leader Snoke was supposed to be alone.”

“And who do you think led you to believe that?”

It’s all so ridiculous. Hux can’t help but laugh. “And he wants to keep me?” he huffs. “After all that?”

“No,” Ren says. “He wants you dead.”

Hux blinks. Blinks again, and stares at Ren’s impassive mask. Finally, “Then…” he begins, but isn’t sure what to ask.

Ren stands, his impressive height seeming to dwarf the cot. His broad shoulders likely add to that impression. The man is so ridiculously formed, all arms and legs, and beneath the mask all nose and eyes and lips…it’s easy to forget that he is also so _solid_.

Ah. Of course. Hux grits his teeth. “Torture, then?” he clips out. “Heal me up nice to make it all the worse?”

Ren seems to pause, to hover, as if he’s suddenly unsure what he’s doing. His gloved hands twitch at his sides. He looks like a giant scavenging bird preparing to descend upon a corpse, and yet, “No,” he says finally.

“No,” Hux echoes. He says it again, bewildered. “No.”

“No,” Ren repeats. His hands finally move, rising up to his mask.

Hux has never in his life been in this much pain. He’s been shot. He’s been stabbed. He’s been beaten. He’s still alive, by the emperor’s black bones, and he has no idea why.

And now Kylo Ren is looming over him, pressing the releases on his mask, pulling the dented metal away from his scar-bisected face, and there are those huge eyes, and they’re dark and deep and shining, and the knight is leaning close, his lips bright red against the pallor of his skin and the inky blackness of the hair falling down around his shoulders, and Hux is thinking madly that he’s never before seen something quite so beautiful—

And then Hux’s eyes are sliding shut, and his heart is hammering at his bruised ribs, and he’s whimpering into Kylo Ren’s mouth.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a [kiss meme](http://cosleia.tumblr.com/post/139817876938/another-kiss-meme). Anonymous asked: "10, kylux please (‘You nearly died’ kiss)"


End file.
